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  thabet 1:12 pm on March 27, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, aerial bombings, afghanistan ( 507 ), civilians ( 52 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), empire ( 114 ), ISAF ( 3 ), NATO ( 84 ), united states ( 803 ), war ( 66 )   

  Liberated by NATO:

  Seven civilians, three of them children, were killed and five others wounded in a NATO airstrike targeting insurgents in restive southern Afghanistan, a local official said Saturday.

  The governor of Helmand province said the two men, two women and three children died when the car they were travelling in was hit by NATO fire late Friday.

   
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  thabet 9:55 pm on January 28, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, afghanistan ( 507 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), empire ( 114 ), geneva conventions ( 8 ), human rights ( 515 ), humanitarian, international law ( 248 ), liberal interventionism ( 61 ), occupation ( 147 ), united states ( 803 ), war ( 66 ), war crimes ( 135 )   

  

  Via Spencer Ackerman and Joshua Foust (also see Steve Hynd). It is worth clicking through to this piece of horrible and stupid piece of colonial apologia regarding the village razing by someone called Paula Broadwell, a friend of Thomas Ricks. Foust is particularly scathing:

  Look, war is hell. I have no illusions about that. But what is happening right now in Southern Afghanistan is inexcusable. There were rumors of this policy of collective punishment in the Arghandab before (see thisoverwrought Daily Mail story that stops right before the village actually was destroyed for an idea of what is going on), and I’m really struggling to see how such behavior does not violate Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention—that is, how this behavior is not a war crime, especially given the explicit admission that such behavior is merely for the convenience of the soldier and not any grander strategy or purpose.

  This sort of abhorrent behavior is not limited to the Arghandab, either. [Paula] Broadwell explicitly states that it has the [David] Petraeus stamp of approval, and Pahjwok has reported U.S. Marines in Helmand province explicitly warning local villagers of collective punishment if insurgents hide out in their settlements. It is probably a safe assumption to say that this is a widespread phenomenon.

  aziz is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    aziz 11:19 am on January 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    “Sure they are pissed about the loss of their mud huts,” Broadwell wrote on Facebook, “but that is why the BUILD story is important here.”

    what the f. omfg.

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  thabet 2:33 pm on June 15, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, aerial bombing ( 3 ), afghanistan ( 507 ), civilians ( 52 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), foreign policy ( 302 ), occupation ( 147 ), taliban ( 294 ), the terror threat ( 143 ), united states ( 803 ), US airstrikes ( 3 ), wikileaks ( 38 )   

  Wikileaks said to be ready to release ‘Garani massacre’ video:

  While denying again that Wikileaks has [...] State Department cables, [Julian] Assange [founder of Wikileaks] acknowledges in the email today that he is in custody of the May 2009 video that shows the airstrike on the Afghan village of Garani, believed to be the most lethal combat strike in Afghanistan—in terms of civilian deaths—since the United States invaded the country in 2001. Assange writes that “we are still working on” preparations for release of the video of “the Garani massacre.”

  Let’s hope Assange isn’t found one morning having ‘committed suicide’ like David Kelly…

   
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  thabet 6:52 am on September 18, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, collateral damage ( 114 ), conflict ( 11 ), geopolitics ( 234 ), international relations ( 267 ), refugees ( 19 ), war ( 66 ), yemen ( 52 )   

  Aerial bombardment is an indiscriminate form of violence:

  At least 87 refugees have been killed in an army air raid on a makeshift camp in north Yemen.

  The camp at Adi in Harf Sufyan has been at the centre of fighting between government forces and Zaidi Shia fighters, which erupted in early August.

  News Yemen, an independent website, aid on Thursday the raid hit the refugees while “they were sleeping under trees and plastic awnings.”

  There’s talk of a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, although one informed commentator says viewing this conflict in this way “does not help”.

  (Side note: I was interested to discover Saudi had been at loggerheads with Oman and pre-UAE Abu Dhabi in the 1950s. Over oil, of course.)

   
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  thabet 3:49 am on September 6, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, afghanistan ( 507 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), military ( 75 ), NATO ( 84 ), taliban ( 294 ), united states ( 803 )   

  Reports say up to 150 villagers, including insurgents, may have been killed in Friday’s NATO-led airstrike.

   
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  thabet 7:03 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, collateral damage ( 114 ), fallujah ( 3 ), international law ( 248 ), Iraq ( 236 ), military ( 75 ), united states ( 803 ), weapons ( 2 )   

  Sky News has a very distressing report (and distressing images) on babies being born in Fallujah with defects that are linked to the use of white phosphorus and/or depleted uranium in the city by US and Iraqi forces in 2004.

  I wonder which ‘international courts’ and ‘world forums’ these people can turn to?

  Naila, null, svend, and 3 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    buzz 7:07 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    I wonder which…

    Start here and file the complaint yourself instead of the incessant idle whining.

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      thabet 7:11 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Yes, it’s only whining when someone else points out the problem.

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        buzz 7:14 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        I am interested in solutions. I have just given you an example.
        You: Idle complainer.
        I’m losing interest in you.

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          buzz 7:17 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Let me cut to the chase and pre-respond to you: Zzzzzzzzz
          Life’s too short.
          Moving on.

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            thabet 7:17 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink

            Don’t forget to close the door on your way out. That’s a solution for you.

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            null 9:19 am on September 5, 2009 Permalink

            Let me cut to the chase and pre-respond to you: Zzzzzzzzz

            You Americans and your pre-emptiveness!

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            svend 12:43 pm on September 5, 2009 Permalink

            What breathtaking idiocy. Good riddance.

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          Naila 11:36 am on September 6, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Zzzzzzzzz Life’s too short. Moving on.

          Buzz, stay off the snooze button and continue your nap time…for the rest of your life.

          thabet, thanks for the post. I didn’t know about this!

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    Mu'adh 10:54 pm on September 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Thabet, stop wasting your time with sellouts like buzzkill

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      thabet 11:36 pm on September 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Mu’adh,

      BK can speak for himself, but I’d defend him from charges that he is a ‘sell out’. I think he is quite passionate about truth and justice.

      I just think his views are often context-less, and assumes everyone else in the world should share his passion about Obama’s goodness.

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    svend 8:58 am on September 6, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Putting aside the manifest stupidity of the barb, to be so dismissive of concerns about credible reports of babies being born malformed due to misconduct smacks of sociopathic narcisissm. If that’s the case, then “sell-out” would be a promotion.

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      null 9:47 am on September 6, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Now to sit back and wait for him to return with gratuitous personal insults in lieu of measured debate.

      Eventually, you just learn to ignore.

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  thabet 3:48 am on August 19, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, blackwater ( 30 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), foreign policy ( 302 ), human rights ( 515 ), liberal interventionism ( 61 ), NATO ( 84 ), united states ( 803 )   

  More killings of civilians in Afghanistan by Western airstrikes, and ‘security contractors’ (mercenaries).

   
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  thabet 8:26 am on August 13, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, collateral damage ( 114 ), drone attacks ( 21 ), ethics ( 15 ), international law ( 248 ), just war ( 5 ), Pakistan ( 682 )   

  The legal questions over drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal regions.

   
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  thabet 1:30 am on August 13, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, afghanistan ( 507 ), collateral damage ( 114 ), foreign policy ( 302 ), international relations ( 267 ), NATO ( 84 ), united states ( 803 )   

  Richard Holbrooke spoke to a conference on Afghanistan yesterday.

  It appears Holbrooke too has joined the growing list of people who are no different to Rush Limbaugh:

  “The best counter-propaganda is to reduce civilian casualties,” [Richard Holbrooke] said. “The rules of engagement have changed in a way which has produced a result on the ground.”

  The pearls of wisdom from the resident Obama cultist might be good for a laugh every morning, but for informed insights I’d recommend following Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel on Twitter and PJ Tobia’s Afghan Desk.

   
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  thabet 2:46 am on August 9, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: aerial bombardment, counterterrorism ( 42 ), drones ( 25 ), foreign policy ( 302 ), Pakistan ( 682 ), Terrorism ( 456 ), united states ( 803 )   

  The pros and cons of using drones to kill terrorists in Pakistan.